SB Now

This reporter visited the new center Wednesday night, and saw a handful of familiar young faces and a new facility that is larger, better equipped and more centrally located in the high crime Operation Phoenix corridor.

The kids with whom I talked said they like the new center much better. It featured a larger recreation room with a number of pool tables, pinball machines and desktop computers. A basketball gymnasium at the church should be ready for the Phoenix kids next month, staffers said.

Here is an inside shot of the new center's recreation room:

Although attendance looked down from the 30 to 50 who regularly came to the old center, it should be kept in mind that the new center was only in its third day of operations.

The Sun has raised the concern before about whether the move - about a half-mile from the old location - will deter some of the kids who'd come to rely on the Waterman location for a safe after-school haven from traveling to the new spot. The jury on that question is still out.

This reporter was fortunate enough to befriend a remarkably articulate and thoughtful 12-year-old, Kevineshia Williams. She said she would like to initiate what could be a profound experiment.

Below is a pic of Kevineshia, standing near a block wall in front of the center on 16th Street:

Kevineshia said she would like to take up the pen as a guest blogger on SBNOW, an entreaty to which this reporter happily obliged. Kevineshia will deliver a review of the new center and provide a narrative about her young life growing up in one of this city's highest crime, most impoverished enclaves.

Through the lens of this keen 12-year-old we may all benefit from a visceral, unfiltered vision of an environment typically described by college-educated, middle-class reporters to middle-class newspaper readers. It is through this fresh perspective that we may all understand in a more profound way the challenges, the fears, the joys and the struggles of growing up in a world where violence is always a trigger away and economic and social strife are a way of life.

No pressure here, just a newspaper enabled by rapidly evolving technology and a willingness to provide a voice to the so often voiceless. School schedule permitting, Kevineshia should make her debut early next week.